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The Secret Weapon That Can Solve Your Toughest Sales Challenges

bookmark_borderBarry Moltzaccess_timeThursday, June 22nd 2017

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Introduction

On this episode of Business Insanity Talk Radio, we first talk about sales: is the sales environment getting tougher or is that something every generation says? Then, we talk to a long-time entrepreneur about how entrepreneurship has changed over the years (and why the failure rate is still so high). Plus, I find that people are always caught up in chasing more – more money, more resources, more accomplishments – but we'll show you why this is dangerous and why there is power in less. Also, small business owners are notoriously bad at finance and accounting, but we'll show you new tools in the cloud that make it easier. Finally, we'll share an inspiring story of an immigrant who achieved the American Dream and credits his success to the hardships he encountered.

Listen

Segment 1: Tim Sandersspent most of his early career on the cutting edge of innovation and change. He was an early stage member of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's broadcast.com, which had the largest opening day IPO in history. After Yahoo acquired the company, Tim was tapped to lead their ValueLab, which enabled sales teams to close hundreds of millions of dollars of new business. By 2001, he rose to the position of Chief Solutions Officer and later, the company's Leadership Coach. Tim is the author of four books, including the New York Times bestseller Love Is the Killer App: How To Win Business & Influence Friends, and his most recent book on sales collaboration, Dealstorming: TheSecret Weapon That Can Solve Your Toughest Sales Challenges.

1:45 – Is the sales environment actually tougher than ever?
2:45 – How to think of sales.
4:00 – The #1 sales secret: the skeptic will be your greatest advocate.
5:15 – Why deals fall apart.
6:45 – What is dealstorming and how does it help?
8:15 – How to build a team around a sales challenge and move them to victory.

Segment 2: Jay Goltz is a CEO, speaker, blogger about business (New York Times, Forbes), mentor and published author (The Street Smart Entrepreneur: 133 Tough Lessons I Learned the Hard). An entrepreneur at heart, Jay started a picture framing business on Clybourn in Chicago right out of NIU in 1978. Fast forward to today—The Goltz Group now employs 110 people and represents a mix of organizations that is unusual in that it covers retail, manufacturing, distribution, direct sales, and e-commerce.

15:30 – What has changed about entrepreneurship since Jay has started?
17:00 – Why is the failure rate so high in entrepreneurship?
18:15 – Know your weaknesses.
20:45 – How do you hire employees that will stick around?
23:00 – Most businesses today do not raise money!

Segment 3: Scott Sonenshein is the Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management at Rice University and author of "Stretch: Unlock the Power of Less – And Achieve More Than You Ever Imagined". He holds a PhD in management and organizations from the University of Michigan, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and a BA from the University of Virginia. He has also worked as a strategy consultant for companies such as AT&T and Microsoft and lived the rise and fall of the dotcom boom while working at a Silicon Valley startup.

31:30 – Why are people caught up in more, more, more?
32:30 – Chasing vs. Stretching: Give up the chase. Stretch the resources you have.
33:45 – The danger of having too many resources.
35:00 – Small businesses often stretch – but as they grow, they lose this ability. Why? How do they avoid this?

Segment 4: Amy Vetter is Chief Relationship Officer-Partner Channel, Xero Americas. She previously worked at Intacct Corp. and Intuit, and she has operated a successful accounting services practice.

40:45 – Why are small business owners bad at the financial part of their business?
42:00 – Cloud accounting technology to help small businesses run their business better.
43:45 – What accounting skills do you need to be successful?
44:45 – What security is in place to protect this information in the cloud?
46:00 – How much time should small business owners devote to accounting each month?

Segment 5: Bedros Keuilian is a best-selling author, speaker and business consultant. He's the founder and CEO of Fit Body Bootcamp, one of the nation's fastest growing franchises and an investor in over a dozen companies ranging from software, digital ad agencies and coaching and consulting services.

49:45 – What is your immigration story?
51:45 – How has being an immigrant worked to your advantage?